46 
Indiana University Studies 
It looks too serious and so much like bringing back the olden times 
of commercial restriction and non-intercourse, that we are alarmed 
at the mere caption of it. It is a ghost which we tremble to hear of, 
and hoped never would be permitted to revisit us again.^® 
Similar sentiments were expressed by a paper published in the 
very heart of the shipping district : 
The intrinsic difficulty of the subject, and the experience of this coun- 
try in regard to commercial restrictions, are well calculated to make 
Congress pause and maturely consider before they pass the Rubicon.’’^, 
Letters appeared in the papers over such signatures as ‘‘Free 
Trade’', “Mercator”, “A Merchant and Landowner”, etc., op- 
posing the passage of such an act, and bolstering up their op- 
position with arguments that it would harm the general trade 
of the country, that the act would fail to open the British West 
India trade to American vessels, and even that that trade it- 
self was unprofitable for American shippers.®^^ 
Whether, as the Montreal Herald predicted, the non-inter- 
course bill was considered too great an attack on the admin- 
istration “/or suffering themselves to he outwitted in the 
commercial convention of 1815” or, as Senator King be- 
lieved, because it was not at that time “expedient” to pass such 
an act;®^ or simply because the majority in Congress felt 
it would be wiser to start with more moderate measures, re- 
serving for later use in case of necessity the more vigorous 
action of non-intercourse, the more extreme bill was laid 
aside,^^ and the navigation bill was passed as the Navigation 
Act of March 1, 1817.®^ Party feelings appear to have had 
no influence on the question. This act merely restricted the 
importation of British West India produce to American vessels 
or to vessels owned by merchants of those colonies. It did 
not forbid the exportation of American goods to those islands 
in British vessels; and in this respect it may be pointed out 
that American agricultural interests received greater atten- 
tion than did the shipping interests. Non-intercourse would 
Carolina Observer, Feb. 6, 1817. 
Neivport Mercury, Feb. 15, 1817. Somewhat similar sentiment was expressed in 
the Boston Commercial Gazette, Feb. 3, 1817. 
Alexandria Gazette, Feb. 3, 1817. Ne^v York Courier quoted in Boston Commercial 
Gazette, Feb. 10, 1817. Ne2V York Herald, Feb. 1, 1817. 
Montreal Herald, Jan. 18, 1817, quoted in Aurora, Feb. 1, 1817. 
Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, VI, 48, 49. 
Annals of Cong., 14 Cong-., 2 Sess., 840. 
Public Statutes at Large, III, 351. 
Daily National Intelligencer, Jan. 31, 1817. 
